The basement in the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem was damaged in a fire Saturday.
Three firefighting teams rushed to the scene of the blaze and managed to contain it; no injuries were reported. The Fire Department was alerted to the blaze by the automatic smoke detectors installed in the building.
Fire truck at scene (Photo: Gil Yochanan)
During the blaze, security guards at the site were staying in the building's top floors.
Firefighters involved in extinguishing the blaze said it could have gravely damaged an archive of classified documents located near the office where the fire originated.
One of the firefighters, Asaf Avras, told Ynet that the building was shrouded by heavy smoke even after the fire was contained, because of the absence of windows in the basement floor.
"This is a grave problem, and we will have to look into the absence of ventilation outlets," he said. "A probe into the cause of the fire is underway, and we shall question the PM's Office employees while also looking into the possibility that a short circuit caused the incident."
Roni Sofer contributed to the story